Joanna Ballard Louisiana Storyteller

A simple solo performances of folk tales collected from the different cultures that have settled Louisiana as well as tales from my growing up years. Depending on venue interaction with audience on the art of storytelling and what stories are all about in the oral tradition and some history of the art.

Joanna Ballard is a Northwest Louisiana native now living in Baton Rouge Louisiana and a current member of the Trapped Truth Society, former member of the Shreveport Writers’ Registry, the Red River Storytellers, the Northwest Louisiana Art Gallery, and was a founding member of the West Edge Artists Co-op. Ms. Ballard began her storytelling and writing career before she could read or write by creating her own songs and stories. She was first published at the age of 16 and has been widely published and won numerous contests. Joanna earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in English with a Theater Minor from Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia AR in 1986. Her lifelong love of words and stories carries over in her enthusiastic storytelling adding flair and flavor to her shows.

Joanna's blend of original stories, poetry, and folk tales from the cultures that have settled in Louisiana along with her unique performance delights both young and old. Joanna. Ballard engages the audience in dialog and often gets them to participate with her in the art of storytelling.

Joanna Ballard also shares her stories in other formats as an artist intertwining her love for words and color digitally in her own self styled “poetic art”, as well as creating folk art jewelry on leather and hemp with vintage beads. Her art has grown out of her gift for and enjoyment of sharing her stories through web design photography, and other mediums.

Her work has been shown and juried into the top galleries and museum in Shreveport, Louisiana as well as in Hollywood, California, Norfolk, Virginia, Dallas, Texas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to mention a few. Joanna has plans for future multimedia works, as well as performances blending her stationary art, movement and words.

Recent Storytelling Performances: Halloween Children's Party October 2015, Baton Rouge, South Central Shriners Ladies Luncheon May 2013, Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge Art Camp April 2012, Women in the Visual and Performing Arts, Baton Rouge March 2012,The Red Shoes, Baton Rouge Feb 2011, The Ultimate Louisiana Party, Marlin Texas, May 2011

Storytelling Performance Career Highlights: Shreveport Louisiana, Multicultural Center of the South Literacy Program Shreveport, Louisiana, International Heritage Festival, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Art and Soul Festival Natchez, Mississippi. Reggae on the Mississippi River Festival, Vidalia Louisiana, Red River Revel Shreveport Louisiana, Mud Bug Madness Shreveport, Louisiana

Recent Art Exhibitions: "N" the Art Space Open House ~ Guest Artist, Baton Rouge, La, Art in the Yard, New Orleans, La, Stabbed in the Art, Baton Rouge, La

Art Exhibitions Career Highlights: The Lost Ones: The Faces of the Homeless and Those Who Dare to Care (one woman show), How Katrina Plays Gala Hollywood, California, Bayou Boogaloo and Cajun Food Festival Norfolk, Virginia Current the Aesthetics of Contemporary Culture, Baton Rouge, Louisiana White on White Exhibition Barnwell Garden and Art Center Shreveport, Louisiana Paper Show Community Arts Center Fort Worth, Texas, The 1st Meadows Museum Northwest Louisiana Artists' Triennial Competition, Artspace Grand Opening Shreveport Louisiana

A simple stage one microphone depending on venue, I am old school trained and can project well